Home / What we do
Collision repair, refinish, sheet metal and structural repairs in Muncie.
Family run at 2801 Doctor MLK Jr Blvd since 1975, on all makes and models. The shop works with all insurance companies, and a photo estimate is the fastest way to start.
Collision repair
Accident damage repaired on all makes and models, from a parking-lot bump to a front end like the Trax on this page.
A collision does more than dent the outside. Behind a bumper cover sit brackets, energy absorbers, sensors and lights, and a hit that looks small can bend parts you cannot see. That is why a collision repair starts with a close look at the car, often with the damaged parts taken off, before the repair plan and the estimate are settled.
The repair then follows a set order: damaged parts are repaired or replaced, panels are straightened and fitted, everything is painted to match, and the car is put back together and checked before you pick it up. When an insurance company is paying, they review the estimate, and damage found once the car is apart is sent to them as an update, called a supplement.
Damage this covers
- Front-end and rear-end collisions
- Side impacts and damaged doors
- Parking-lot dents, scrapes and backing-up damage
- Deer and animal strikes
- Bumpers, grilles and lights broken in an accident
What helps the estimate
- Photos of the damage, close up and from a few steps back
- Your insurance claim number, if there is a claim
- Whether the car can still be driven
Refinish
Repaired and replaced panels painted to match the rest of the car.
Refinish is the paint side of body work. A repaired or new panel has to match the panels next to it in color, shine and texture, and that is harder than it sounds: the same factory color varies from car to car and changes as paint ages in the sun. A good refinish matches the color to the car itself, not only to the paint code on the door sticker, and often blends it into the panels beside the repair so the change does not show.
Refinish is not only for accident damage. Deep scratches, keyed paint, peeling clear coat and faded panels are all refinish work. Photos taken in daylight help the shop see the color and how far the damage goes before you bring the car in.
Refinish work
- Panels after a collision repair
- Scratches and scuffs through the paint
- Keyed or vandalized paint
- Peeling or cloudy clear coat
- Bumper covers and mirrors
What helps the estimate
- Photos in daylight, so the color shows
- The year, make and model
- Any earlier paint work on that panel
Sheet metal
Doors, fenders, quarter panels and other body panels repaired or replaced.
Sheet metal work is the body panels: doors, fenders, hood, quarter panels, roof and trunk lid. A dented panel can often be repaired, pulled and worked back into shape, then finished smooth for paint. A panel that is torn, stretched or sharply creased is usually replaced, and some panels, like quarter panels, are welded in because they are part of the body itself.
The gaps matter as much as the dent. After the work, doors, hood and trunk lid should line up evenly with the panels around them, and open and close the way they did before the damage.
Sheet metal work
- Door dents and creases
- Fender and quarter panel damage
- Hood, roof and trunk lid damage
- Rocker panels below the doors
- Panels replaced when repair is not enough
What helps the estimate
- Which panels are damaged: door, fender, quarter panel
- Photos of each one
- Whether the door or hood still opens and closes
Structural repairs
Repairs to the structure of the car after a collision, on the shop floor in Muncie.
Most cars today are built as one welded structure, called a unibody, instead of a body bolted to a separate frame. In a harder hit that structure can bend: frame rails, pillars, the floor and the points where the suspension is mounted. It is not always visible from the outside, which is why it is checked after any serious collision.
A structural repair means measuring the car against the manufacturer’s dimensions, pulling the structure back where it belongs and replacing parts that cannot be straightened. It matters for more than looks: the structure decides how the car protects you in another crash, and how the wheels, sensors and safety systems sit.
Signs to watch for after an accident
- Doors, hood or trunk that no longer line up or close right
- The car pulls to one side, or the steering wheel is off center
- Gaps between panels that are wider on one side
- Airbags went off
- Warning lights that came on after the accident
What helps the estimate
- What happened: speed and where the car was hit
- Warning lights that came on after the accident
- Your insurance claim number, if there is one
Insurance claims
The shop works with all insurance companies.
See what usually happens next, depending on who is paying.